Crash investigation urges clearer medical rules

“Clearer rules” needed when pilots have psychological problems
“Clearer rules” are needed on when medical confidentiality can be lifted if pilots have psychological problems, a French investigation into the Germanwings crash recommends.
“Clearer rules are needed to establish when it is necessary to lift medical confidentiality,” investigator Arnaud Desjardins said as the report was presented yesterday.
The report revealed that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had been urged to attend psychiatric hospital a few weeks before he deliberately crashed the plane into a mountainside last March, killing 150 people – and his employer had not been informed.
The investigation also recommended tougher medical checks for pilots, though it emerged that Lubitz had seen dozens of doctors in the years before the crash.
After the disaster, European aviation authorities recommended making it compulsory to have two people in the cockpit at all times during flights. But some are against this, with one German union believing it poses “risks that outweigh any supposed improvements in security”.AFP